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What a deposition is

A deposition is sworn testimony taken out of court, during the discovery phase of a civil case. You answer questions under oath. A court reporter records every word and produces a written transcript; sometimes it is also recorded on video.

Two things follow from that. First, it is real testimony — what you say can be read back at trial, so accuracy matters more than eloquence. Second, nothing is decided at a deposition. No judge is present. Nobody wins or loses. It is information-gathering.

Who is in the room

Who	What they do
You	Answer the questions asked. Nothing more — you are not there to tell your story in your own order.
Your lawyer	Sits beside you, objects where appropriate, asks for breaks, and may ask clarifying questions at the end.
Opposing counsel	Asks the questions. Often more than one lawyer, if there are multiple defendants.
Court reporter	Administers the oath and transcribes everything. Neutral.
Videographer	Only if the deposition is being recorded on video, which is common but not universal.
The defendant	Has a right to attend. In practice this is frequently handled by remote appearance or by agreement — see below.

How long it lasts

California caps most depositions. Under Code of Civil Procedure § 2025.290, examination of a witness by all counsel other than the witness’s own is limited to seven hours of total testimony. The court can extend that where it is needed to examine the witness fairly, or where something has obstructed the examination.

Seven hours means seven hours on the record. Breaks, lunch, and time spent arguing between lawyers do not count against it. In practice a plaintiff’s deposition in a case like this often runs most of a day, and it can be broken across two shorter days if that is arranged in advance.

The seven-hour limit does not apply where:

• the parties have stipulated in writing that it does not;
• the witness is a designated expert;
• the case has been designated complex by the court;
• the case is an employment case brought by an employee or applicant against an employer;
• the witness is a person most qualified designated by an organisation.

What you will be asked about

Questioning in a medical sexual abuse case tends to fall into three buckets.

1. Background

Where you have lived, worked and studied; your family; other medical treatment. Some of this feels intrusive and irrelevant, and some of it is — the point is usually to establish a timeline and to test whether other explanations exist for the harm you describe.

2. The treatment itself

When you first saw the physician, how often, who referred you, what happened at particular appointments, whether anyone else was present, what was said. Dates will be pressed on. If your records have been produced, you may be shown them and asked to read from them.

3. The effects

How your life changed; whether you told anyone at the time and when; therapy or medical treatment since; how you came to connect what happened to the harm you experienced. In a case that turns on the discovery rule, the question “when did you understand this as an injury?” is central rather than incidental.

What they are not allowed to do

The single most useful protection to know about is Code of Civil Procedure § 2017.220. In a civil action alleging conduct constituting sexual harassment, sexual assault or sexual battery, a defendant cannot simply start asking a plaintiff about their sexual conduct with other people.

In plain terms: your sexual history with others is presumptively off-limits, the burden is on the defence to justify any part of it, a judge decides before it happens, and your lawyer gets to argue about it first. It is not something that can be sprung on you in the room.

Beyond that statute, ordinary limits apply. Privileged communications — with your lawyer, and in California with a sexual assault counsellor — are protected. Questions that are argumentative, harassing, or already asked and answered draw objections. And a witness can always take a break.

What “objection” means

This surprises people. In a deposition, when your lawyer objects, you usually still answer. The objection is being preserved on the record for a judge to rule on later, if the transcript is ever used. There are exceptions — most importantly, a lawyer can instruct a witness not to answer where the question invades a privilege.

So do not read an objection as a signal that a question is out of bounds. Read it as your lawyer flagging something for later. If you are ever unsure whether to answer, you can say you would like to speak to your attorney.

Practical things that actually help

• Listen to the whole question. Then pause. The pause gives your lawyer room to object and gives you room to think. It reads as careful, not evasive.
• Answer only what was asked. Volunteering extra opens doors you did not need to open.
• “I don’t remember” is an answer. For events twenty or thirty years ago it is often the only honest one. Guessing is what damages a witness, not admitting the limits of memory.
• Ask for the question to be repeated if it was compound or confusing. That is your right and it happens constantly.
• Ask for breaks. You do not need a reason. The only conventional restriction is that a break is not taken with a question pending.
• Correct yourself. If you realise an earlier answer was wrong, say so on the record. There is also an errata process after you receive the transcript.
• Prepare with your lawyer. A preparation session before the deposition is standard practice, not special treatment, and it is where most of the anxiety gets dealt with.

Where the deposition sits in the case

Stage	What it involves	Your involvement
Complaint filed	Your lawyer files; the defendants are served	Reviewing and approving the complaint
Answer and motions	Defendants respond and may challenge the pleadings	Usually none
Written discovery	Written questions and document requests both ways	Helping answer questions; providing records
Depositions	Sworn testimony from plaintiffs, defendants and witnesses	One day, prepared for in advance
Mediation and settlement talks	A neutral tries to broker a resolution	Attending or being available by phone
Trial	Only if the case does not resolve	Testifying, if it gets there

Most civil cases resolve before trial. Being deposed does not mean a courtroom is coming; it means the case has reached the stage where both sides gather evidence. What filing actually involves covers the wider timeline in more detail.

Privacy around your testimony

Deposition transcripts are not filed with the court as a matter of course and are not public documents simply by existing. Protective orders can restrict how testimony and records are used and who may see them. Separately, California courts can permit a survivor to litigate under a pseudonym in appropriate cases, which affects what appears in the public docket. Both are worth raising with a lawyer at the outset rather than later. Privacy and anonymity goes through this in full.

Common questions

A deposition usually comes somewhere in the middle of a case, after documents have been exchanged and often shortly before settlement talks begin. For where it sits relative to everything else, see how long a civil lawsuit takes.